Chapter 2

In Vaysh's rational mind, there was no question: Thiede was dead, or at least he was no longer here on this earth.

Vaysh's irrational mind was dealing with a different reality: Thiede was living and standing only a few yards away.

There he was. Immensely tall with that same magnificent, phosphorescent white skin and flaming red hair, framing his face, the face. Thiede. Standing before the mysterious albino, he certainly appeared to be real, living -- but he couldn't be!

Maybe I'm going insane, Vaysh thought. Maybe this is what happens when you neglect yourself and leave issues unresolved. I've got things I've wanted to say to Thiede and so here he is. Ye gods, look at him, preening his hair. I bet he knows I'm watching. He always knew everything I was thinking. Always manipulating me. Vaysh stared on in disbelief, mixed in with suddenly fresh and painful memories. Oh, that's him all right. I felt the power coming out of him, after all. I've been a fool not to realize it. Thiede has come back to the flesh!

Vaysh's head leaned between the hedges as he strained for a closer look. He was pushing aside a branch when suddenly he received the second shock of that night, a pair of doves fluttering out into the open, flushed out, albeit inadvertently. Vaysh's instincts made him gasp -- before he could think -- and soon he felt flushed out himself.

Over in the yard, the albino was staring, eyes wide. Thiede had turned his head. The amber of his eyes was the last thing Vaysh saw before he passed out.

A few minutes later, when he came to, Vaysh felt relieved. He was lying in a soft, comfortable bed, presumedly his own -- not fallen amongst the hedges as he had feared.

Thank heavens! The entire scene with Thiede and the albino shaman had been nothing more than a vivid nightmare. The sensation of relief he felt reminded him of those fleeting feelings he'd sometimes had just before falling asleep, a sense of panic and he'd suddenly imagine he was falling down a flight of stairs, unable to save himself, skidding and tumbling, head over heads. He'd flail around in terror for a moment only to finally wake up enough to realize he was safe under the covers. He'd fall asleep almost immediately afterward.

Not so this time. No, in this instance Vaysh's moment of relief was almost immediately invaded by the presence of a powerful mind, cutting into his consciousness: "Are you all right? Please, who are you? What--"

In a blur of motion Vaysh was sitting up in bed throttling the albino. He was in a strange bed, a strange room. He assumed he was inside the house. Had he actually fainted? Or had this stranger exerted some power over him? He'd been carried inside and apparently was being interrogated, although the albino had been thwarted for certain. Vaysh had slammed his mind shut as soon as he could. No one was allowed inside -- no one!

Who was this har, with his pink eyes and white hair? Daring to seize the Tigrons' chief counselor, dragging him into a strange bed and carrying out a mindprobe? Hands around the offender's throat, Vaysh was determined to have answers to those questions, although his immediate course of action was simply to prove he could defend himself more than adequately, holding the squirming har in check. The albino was staring at him in shock, obviously not expecting to be fought off.

"Stop it!" a voice shouted. Suddenly Vaysh was being shaken by the shoulders. He growled and twisted his head to see who putting his hands on him. What was this, some sort of assault?

In the heat of anger, little did he expect to see Thiede.

Thiede! Here was that face again. Vaysh had been relieved upon waking, thinking everything he'd seen had been a nightmare, but now he saw that the nightmare was true. Thiede!

His hands let go their grip on the albino and he stared, every muscle rigid. Not for a long time had he been so completely overcome with dread or left at such an immense loss for words.

"Thank you for stopping," Thiede began. "I assure you, he meant no harm. We saw you had fainted at the side of the yard. Moon sensed your distress and together we rushed you inside. He was only trying to find out if you were all right and who you are--"

"He doesn't know who I am?" Vaysh broke in. Hard as it was to believe, he was having a talk with the risen Aghama.

Thiede looked over to the albino, who had by that time composed himself. "No, of course he doesn't know you. Should he? For that matter, should I?"

Vaysh was stupefied. Thiede didn't recognize him, didn't know him?

So many questions rushed into his head and yet before he could even focus on one of them, let alone voice it, he was interrupted. "I swear, Moon was merely communicating to you in the only way he can. You see, my hostling is deaf--"

"Your hostling!?" Vaysh gasped. Thiede didn't have a hostling, or at least he hadn't in his first life. What had the trickster done this time? Had himself reborn as a harling? How could he have grown up a single year?

The answers to these questions didn't come in the way he expected. "I know," Thiede admitted. "I don't look like him at all, but he's my hostling. Funny how that works. I really look more like my father."

At that moment, Vaysh staring blank-facedly in shock, the albino leaned forward and nudged his son's side, meanwhile nodding meaningfully.

Thiede smiled. "Moon says that I more than 'look more like my father,' but that I look exactly like him. Exactly." The har chuckled. "He says you think that's who I am and that's why you're so afraid. He says to tell you that I'm not Thiede."

Once again Vaysh was faced with a sense of horrible uncertainly. Was this real or a nightmare? Was he dreaming while awake or awake in some sort of dream? Whatever the case, his tongue was making words and he had no control over them. "You're not Thiede." He swallowed. "Who are you then?"

"My name is Apollo," the har replied, "Thiede's son."